After An Infant Died Of A Ruptured Spleen, Gov. Josh Shapiro Said It Was Measles. The Coroner Says Otherwise.

Two days after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro indicated in a press conference that two residents had died from measles, questions have only grown louder about how public health officials tied the deaths to a measles outbreak.

State public health officials who vaguely described the deaths as “measles-associated” have not shared details about the cases with the public, and refuse to revisit their findings in light of a conflicting conclusion by the county coroner.

The deaths reportedly occurred in Lancaster County, where Republican Commissioner Joshua Parsons has led calls for more transparency from the Pennsylvania Public Health Department.

“I have sought to keep an open mind and be objective, but the evidence now leads to the conclusion that there is deception happening here,” Parsons said in a social media post.

The Lancaster County Forensic Center has only handled one autopsy involving measles in recent days, that of an hours-old newborn baby.

The autopsy did not determine measles to be the cause of death, Lancaster County Coroner Steve Diamantoni revealed in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday night. The autopsy concluded the newborn died from laceration of the spleen, but did find measles antibodies were present in postmortem testing, Diamantoni told the paper. The death occurred during a home birth last Thursday, Diamantoni, an elected Republican, told WGAL.

Shapiro faulted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the deaths on Tuesday, stressing that both were in unvaccinated individuals, claims carried by news outlets around the country. But a newborn infant would not have been eligible for vaccination until he is 12 months old, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, or at earliest 6 months old under new state guidelines.

“This misinformation is taking a real toll on a parent’s job to protect their kids,” he said.

“Secretary Kennedy’s actions to dismantle public health agencies and his language that undermines confidence in vetted medical guidance are contributing to these kinds of outbreaks,” he later said on social media.